random babble…

The DMZ.

Greeting us outside the DMZ. Oddly cheery.

We took a guided bus tour to the DMZ yesterday.

There is a lot to be said for visiting landmarks that stand as constant reminders of painful history.  Korea is a proud place, both the North and the South, in their own ways, and the DMZ is a harsh reminder of the differences in that pride.

In the South, there is an odd aura of hope surrounding the DMZ and the surrounding area.  They seem to stand, waiting, with their breath held for the hopeful future of reunification.  It is obvious in way that the DMZ has become an exciting tourist attraction, complete with a small theme park (with rides) at Imjimgak Place.  The surrounding attractions have been conspicuously brightened, as if to put the fear and pain behind them.  It was extremely odd to stand in a place where my grandfather once stood, in entirely different circumstances, and see it regarded as a place of hope.

Our houseguest, John, The Guy, and Yours Truly after our return hike.

We visited the Third Incursion Tunnel, one of the four known tunnels dug secretly by the North to try to breech the South after the cease fire was signed.  Tourists can walk the over 500 meters down the 1/3000 angle tunnel.  Not wanting to miss out on the chance I rested well the day before so that I could make the trip down, but I will say that if you are not in good health you should think twice about making the descent yourself.  The tunnel is dark, cold, and extremely damp.  It isn’t tall enough for an average height woman (which I am not) to walk upright.  We spent about 45 minutes walking hunched over, and our houseguest, at 6’2″ hit his head several times (luckily you are required to wear a hard hat).  It is not impossible and some people brought their children, but I was exhausted to near tears after, and have had to spend the next full day resting, my legs elevated and back in considerable pain.  It was a foolish thing to do, but I don’t regret it.  As eerie and slightly creepy as it is inside, it was nonetheless interesting, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting Korea.

The closest shot you can get of North Korea without a telephoto lens.

The areas past Unification Bridge, including Unification Village, the tunnel, and most of the DMZ observatory at Dorasan (Dora Mountain) are off limits for picture taking.  There is a yellow lined box outside the observatory where you may take photographs of the “Fake Village” of Gaesong, visible from the observatory, but you can not adequately photograph the DMZ itself directly.  You can see, however, the two famous flagpoles, on respective sides of the border, where each country tried to build theirs taller, until the South finally gave up.  Currently, the North has the tallest flagpole in the world, and the South flies the largest flag in the World (which is in Guinness).

Me, pretty much being a Smart Ass.

After the DMZ itself we visited the Dorasan Train Station, on Highway 1, which until this past December, was the road to Gaesong and to Pyongyang.  Until then there were tours available to Gaesong, but now the highway toll booth is closed and barricaded, and the Train Station is empty, save a gift shop employee and a few Korean Military Conscripts.  The station and the surrounding ground seems to be ready to go should reunification happen.  They have hopes of one day having a train route that can take you from Seoul all the way to Europe, uniting the Trans-Siberian, Trans-Chinese and Trans-Korean railways.  Inside you can get a souvenir stamp on a brochure or post card that looks like a customs stamp for Pyongyang.  Our tour guide told us that one guy once stamped his passport, thinking it was cool, and was later detained for over 11 hours at the Incheon Airport and forced to prove that he wasn’t a DPRK terrorist.

I am not gonna lie.  It is very eerie to stand in a huge, clean, new looking train station that is ready and waiting, and to know that it goes nowhere.

I recommend the tour, all up until they take you to the Korean Amethyst Factory (which I thought was going to be cool), where they have beautiful gems, which are darker and harder than amethyst found anywhere else, but really was just about an hour of trying to sell us jewelry.  I had a total “one of these things is not like the other” moment.  *shrugs*  Our tour guide was great and full of information if you are only visiting Seoul an want to know where to eat, shop and visit.  She also tried to make a joke with us, saying that she saw a body floating down the Imjim river (which, sadly is known to happen when someone from the North tries to defect and attempts to swim across but is gunned down by DPRK troops), which made me feel awkward, but seemed to get a chuckle out of some of the other tourists.

We want to visit Panmunjom, but that requires actual passports, and not the No-Fee ones that we were issued.  We don’t have them yet but are planning to get them, since we will need them anyhow to visit more of Asia while we are here.